Thanks to netgalley and Serial Box for the advance ARC copy for my honest review.

Thought this one had a weird ending. Since it's like the authors realized that if Kaab makes the boat, then goes home, it would end the Tremontaine series, found it predictable that she goes to get Rafe and he's able to have a teary eyed good bye look at the Duke.

Everything about the Duchess is predictable and just getting old. Especially since Kaab knows her secret, so easily could bring her down, yet gets dummy downed all the time and is kept on a leash.

Realize Rafe just cares about himself, doesn't console Kaab for the sacrifice she made so he can see the Duke off, part of his deal with the Duchess and doesn't understand her crying. Then hooks up with Florian, yet his fathers business lost money due too his and Shade's thieving of his warehouses.

Glad Tess and Kaab are no longer together, glad Micah appears in this one and hope she gets a bigger role with living with the Duchess. The third season should be interesting with all the plot twists, shifting allegiances, break ups and hope Kaab gets unleashed.

POV – 3rd person, multi character, often omni-present
Would I read it again – Yes!
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Serial, Historical, Coming-of-Age, Queer
Content Warning – mild violence, sexual situations, adultery/cheating, prostitution
Orientations – MM, MF, FF



** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **



I love the world building of this series, and the talented writers who bring it all together, but I was left heartbroken by the events of Season One and I'm hopeful that Season Two will at least offer some relief from that. I'm coming straight into this, just an hour after finishing Season One, so it's all fresh in my mind. There are still the infrequent issues of editing mistakes, changes of tense that don't always make sense, as were in Season One, but the recurring issue of font change has been eliminated, which is a relief.

Because of the format Netgalley sent, or perhaps because of how Kindle interprets them, the formatting for the first half of this series of ARC's was terrible. The documents had either one or two lines then a line of gapping, repeated throughout and it wasn't only hard on the eyes, but made it more difficult to follow in terms of flow. The second half were much better formatted.

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Episode 13: Dissolution, by Ellen Kushner

★★★★★
Pages: 55

Well, whoever said that all was fair in love and war was mistaken. Because they've been to Riverside or suffered having to watch Rafe grieve for a man who isn't dead! Curse you, Kushner!
Yes, the revenge against Florian was so simple, so perfectly done, but I'm sad that he and Shade are no longer a unit, that they likely won't be in Season 3, unless – which I would love to see! – Florian gets in with Rafe, which could be interesting. I'm also intrigued as to what Vincent has in mind, and why he didn't just go back to Reza, like he should have.
The whole storyline for Ixkaab was sad, but a little predictable, since she's never been a very skilled player at Diane's games. Diane, who is still ruling the roost, for some Godforsaken reason!
Guarantee, I'll be buying the entire Season 3 paperback as soon as I get paid at the end of the month! I can't wait any longer to find out what happens to my lovely Rafe.

Favourite Quote

“Rafe stood that way for a long time, until the ship and its passenger were out of sight. Then he blinked and let the water flood his eyes, because it didn't matter whether he could see clearly anymore.”

So this is goodbye to Tremontaine. While the third season is underway, I am unlikely to end up reading it. It is a bit of a pity: the world and the story are interesting, and the last few chapters have set up a potentially more interesting third season. But for me, the rewards of reading aren't enough here. The diverse and imaginative world is certainly worth attention, but I keep wishing the writers would do something more interesting with it than they do. For instance, in this chapter, there's a plot twist that clearly should make an impression on the reader. But that depends on finding the location of Riverside and the notion of being from Riverside to be meaningful to the reader, and I can't say it has grown to mean anything to me. I feel disconnected from the place and from most of the characters (except Micah and Kaab, somewhat, but only at times).

I'm sure it will find readers who like it better than I do; for me, I'm off to read other things.

Another season of intrigue, ambition and seduction from Kushner et al is always a pleasure and my rating would be more 3.5 than 3 stars, although I felt that this second season didn't quite have the charge and energy of the first. It was nevertheless fascinating to watch Diane maneuvering her way towards becoming Duchess in her own right, coming ever closer to the position in which we find her at the beginning of Swordspoint, and to witness her masterly handling of those around her. I found that reading the installments week by week was a very different experience to reading them all at the same time, as I did with the first season, and that it made sense of some of the repetition I'd identified with that last season. In due course I hope to post a longer review on my blog, but to do so I'll need to read all the installments again first!

Last episode for this 'season' - and yes, it looks like there'll be another season.
Although we climax at the long-awaited vote in which we discover if Diane de Tremontaine will become Duchess 'in her own right,'many of the other plot threads which looked like they were about to be resolved and tied up neatly suddenly unravel at the last moment... leaving plenty of room for more story to-come!

Dissolution (Tremontaine #2.13)
by Ellen Kushner (Goodreads Author), Alaya Dawn Johnson (Goodreads Author), Paul Witcover, Racheline Maltese (Goodreads Author), Tessa Gratton (Goodreads Author), Mary Anne Mohanraj (Goodreads Author), Joel Derfner (Goodreads Author)

The final chapter.
Duchess Tremontaine has become the heir apparent, and is able to establish her own line of inheritance and found away to escape being tied to the Dragon. She also knows where William can be safe and care for.
Kaab has awoken to a new world, she is back with her family. She knows she must return to her former life, with Arthur gone she knows that it was an illusion that she would fit in Riverside.

Rafe has all he dreamed of, and the moment to say goodbye to William. It is a resolution may not be the romantic end to his story but a resolution.

This was a great series with dynamic and heart rending stories of personal struggle and personal triumph. A great book to look at the meaning behind the story, and the motivation of the character.